


thou shalt have a fishy, and thou shalt have a fin

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Mermaid!Harry, Mpreg, What am I doing, human!Louis, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 06:27:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4511400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pregnant, mermaid!Harry with human!Louis</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was entirely inspired by bgayb omg sorry
> 
> It'll probably just be a bunch of snippets all set in the same verse tbh

The first time Louis heard him, he was immediately cast under his spell. The voice pulled him in, wove around him like a net, haunting and low, bringing to mind ships caught mid-voyage in a storm. The voice simultaneously thundered like waves crashing against the shore in a hurricane, stealing lives and livelihoods, yet also whispered like the quiet rush of the slowly ebbing tide on a beautiful, cloudless sunset. 

Louis stumbled towards the ethereal singing, drunk on the sound. His bare feet crunched through the sand and he stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of the otherworldly artist.

He was beautiful, perched on a rocky ledge at the edge of a huge tide pool. His hair was long and silky, cascading chestnut curls left loose and flowing, a single sea flower pinned behind his right ear. His rosy cheeks matched the peachy hues of his pink scales on his tail, which had several long, flowing fins that swished as he flipped it, splashing water everywhere while giggling. Two little green starfish covered his nipples modestly, although the quirk of his full, coral-colored lips was anything but innocent. His eyes were a soft jade, like shallow water when the light hit it just right, and his skin had the luminescent sheen of an untouched pearl.

He was breathtaking. He wasn't human. He was simply Harry.

Louis fell to his knees just before him, staring at his rounded belly and protective hands that encircled it. He gently reached out, lightly running his fingers along Harry's shimmery scales, feeling their smoothness and warmth. He was gorgeous. Harry rubbed his baby bump softly and glanced out towards the setting sun.

"I'm Louis."

"I know."

Louis left with a coral kiss on his cheek, a shell clutched to his chest, and a skip in his step.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry knew every inch of the oceans, every nook and cranny, every trench, mountain, and beach. He had spoken with all of its creatures; the sea had one universal language, always connected, always one-- so unlike the disjointed earth world. 

He had chatted with dolphins about riding the waves in a particularly bad storm, dancing through the dark water and chasing lightning. He had spoken to sharks about shipwrecks, of rusted hulls and dying men, of the blood of life trickling out into the sea. He had even, once or twice, managed to talk to a manatee; huge, lumbering creatures with gentle bodies and hearts, that continually embraced humans despite the tragic scars of angry motors on their leathery skin.

No creature, not the hiss of moray eels guarding a treasure chest, nor the raucous laughter of the fruitful seagulls, nor the quiet omnipotence of the giant squid as it stared at him with an inky black eye the size of a dinner plate, came close to as interesting to man-- to Louis Tomlinson. 

Harry would sit at his favorite tide pool each day and wait. When the sun was a round, happy ball in the very middle of the sky, Louis would come, bearing all sorts of gifts. An earth flower one day-- something he called a lily-- that Harry bewitched and wore almost every day, an ivory comb that he would use every morning from then on to brush out his curly locks, a pair of something called sunglasses, that would help block out the light. Every day something exciting and new was brought to him, but by the end of the week he felt bad. 

Louis had given him so many wondrous gifts, but all Harry had given in return was simple sea shells. He started to seek out rare favorites, like a Precious Wentletrap, a Fulton Cowrie, and lastly a Glory of Seas, which he imbued with the actual sound of the ocean for Louis to listen to when he was falling asleep.

Louis insisted he didn't need to do anything fancy, that he cherished each shell he was given and laid them all out like soldiers on his dresser. Harry continued to find pretty shells that called to him, trading with other sea creatures to get the very distant ones. And every time, he would give it a little spell: perhaps something for luck, or good fortune, or protection. All little pieces of himself. 

Louis kept every single one of them. By the end of the summer, his entire room was decorated with sea shells, while Harry's treasure hoard had grown to dragon proportions. By the end of Louis' life, his house would simply be known as Shell Cottage.


	3. Chapter 3

Louis couldn't help notice how Harry grew rounder and softer by the week, his hair even more luscious than before as he practically glowed with fertility. He complimented him often, sang praises that made Harry's cheeks light up and eyes gleam like the sun off the ocean. 

One day, on autumn's quiet noon, Harry didn't show up. Louis waited stoically the first hour, then grew increasingly panicked as the sun started to go down in the sky. Just before it completely dipped to its fiery ocean death, a splash came from the sea by their tide pool. 

He jolted to his feet, climbing over the ridge where Harry normally sat, and peered into the sea.

Harry poked his head out of the water, the most beautiful smile on his sweet face. A small bundle was wrapped up in his seaweed, clutched in his arms. Harry brushed aside a few pieces and revealed a tiny baby, with porcelain skin like her father, soft tufts of golden-brown hair and a pretty blue fish tail.

"Her name is Cerulean, but you can call her Rue."

Louis took a shocked step forwards, arms automatically coming up. Giggling, Harry very gently passed the newborn over. She was the prettiest thing since her mum, little Rue, with these sleepy blue eyes and tiny, tiny hands that curled like hermit crab shells. He traced her soft cheeks and smiled. Her tail gently slapped his belly as she wiggled weakly, already ready to adventure this big, wide world. 

Louis started bringing a gift for each of them. Harry's grew increasingly romantic, with lockets, earrings, chocolates, flowers. It culminated in a ring, a 24-karat white gold ring with a sapphire set in the middle, flanked by two smaller diamonds. Harry said yes.


	4. Chapter 4

So Louis married himself to the sea. He moved down to the pier, by their tide pool, built himself a little cottage from the ground up. People told him he was crazy, living so close to the waves, but Louis knew Harry would always protect him.

Every morning, he would fix Harry and himself a cuppa, would sit at his breakfast table eating a scone and smile across the way at his husband. It was perfect, wedded bliss, watching his little girl swaddled up like a baby otter, pressed tight to Harry's chest as he stroked her hair and sipped his tea. 

Harry was an excellent mum, and Louis stepped in seamlessly as Rue's father. He would braid both her and Harry's soft hair, watch them come alive under the waves like little eels swaying in the tide. He carried her over the sands, letting her play in endless tide pools, helping her explore and grow. Louis would sit with her between his legs, tiny tail flip-flopping as she grabbed at the seashell necklace around his neck, the very first one Harry had given him, gently drilled through and slung onto a rawhide string. 

Louis loved his life, loved settling down on the warm beach with his husband and daughter, building sandcastle that grew more elaborate each week, eventually becoming sand kingdoms. He would play patty cake with Rue until she grew sleepy, then tuck her into her crib made of coral and simply sit with Harry, trade kisses and affectionate murmurs as they watched the sun set.

Eventually, Rue grew up, went from happy, sweet infant to chubby-thighed, wiggly toddler. Louis would splash about in the knee-high waves with her, tiring her out with hide-and-seek as Harry knitted her a kelp scarf. Everyday he brought her a new treasure, and often times she surprised him right back. One time, he recalled with startling clarity, Rue put a tiny starfish no bigger than his fingernail in his palm, and encouraged it to dance for him.


	5. Chapter 5

Seasons and years seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye. Rue went from her terrible two's to a full-blown teenager faster than Louis ever could've imagined. She stayed out in the deep water more, no longer had time for silly knick-knacks like buttons, a deck of cards, a music box. Harry would soothe Louis' quiet worry with a smile, gently kissing him and promising him it was just her age.

Louis grew older, his skin becoming sun-weathered as deep grooves and pits appeared in his hands. Crow's feet nested by his eyes alongside crinkly laugh lines, and his hair went salt and pepper. Harry would kiss him and promise Louis he was just as beautiful as the day they met.

Despite not leaving his cottage much, Louis continued to bring Harry little presents. He grew wrinkled and beaten, his hair going completely silver and a new shake in his hands, but he never failed to laugh or smile just as much as his younger days. He still sat outside and ate breakfast with his husband every day. 

One morning, Louis did not come out. Harry dragged himself onto land and fought his way inside Louis' home, finding the love of his life in the bathroom on the ground, hip broken and exhausted. Harry healed him and tried more spells, searching desperately for eternal youth, but no such thing was to be found. 

Harry's spells and trickery could only keep Louis here for so long. By age one-hundred-and-three, Louis knew it wouldn't be long. He could no longer safely hobble and wheel down the beach to the water. He grew frustrated by his helplessness, and was moved to tears the first day he wasn't able to find a present. Harry found him curled up by his favorite sea shell dresser, sobbing as he clutched his necklace.

A few months later, Louis knew he hadn't long at all. He was sure his body was finally failing him, likely some cancer or other disease that ate the body and wearied the mind. He had Harry help him down to the water one last time, in a flowing, white robe.

Rue came home, with her own child, Coral, on one hip, her husband trailing. She'd taken up residence in the Baltic Sea, but returned for her parents in their time of need. 

Louis let himself drown, in the end, watching the bubbles of his last gasp of air trickle up as everything went quiet under the rush of the waves. His heart competed boldly to drown it out but lost, and the tide brought him out to sea in a proper burial. 

Harry was grief stricken. There was no consoling him. He'd sit by Louis' cottage and stare into the distance, clutching the seashell necklace his late husband had so loved. Every night around twilight, he would sing for him, sing out all the desolation and loneliness he felt, and the Shell Cottage grew rumored to be haunted. 

But it was no ordinary ghost. It was the ghost of a life well-lived and a love so deep the ocean couldn't fathom it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I have no idea what I've just done but it's very early in the morning and this is basically all unofficially unedited so!!!! Anyways, my tumblr is racylacyharry, feel free to stop by and say hello, maybe take me another prompt emotional roller coaster <3


End file.
